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Kraus presents annual fire report

Crystal Fire Department Fire Chief Bill Kraus recently released the 2010 Annual Fire Report for the City of St. Marys and provided the information to members of city council earlier this week. According to Kraus, the department responded to 262 incidents in 2010, 39 less than the previous year. He said 143 of the calls were general alarms, 35 were rescue calls, 20 were for training, 45 were for public service, and 19 were related to investigations. Of the general alarms, investigations and public service calls, four were carbon monoxide investigations, 40 were false alarms, 25 were odor investigations and 25 were for water-related incidents. "I think we've exceeded [last year's number of water-related incidents] thus far this year already with the two floods we had, one back in January and one last week," Kraus said. Department members also responded to 32 mutual aid calls in 2010 and received aid four times. The day of the week when the most incidents occurred throughout 2010 was Monday, with 62. Kraus indicated that there was not any particular reason for the high number of Monday incidents and added that the day of the week with the most incidents tends to change each year. The total number of instances on other days throughout the year were 23 on Tuesday, 38 on Wednesday, 37 on both Thursday and Friday, 39 on Saturday and 26 on Sunday. "The busiest time of the day for us would have been, actually there were two, we were either called out at 9 a.m. or at 6 p.m.," Kraus said. He added that the overall average response time was seven minutes and two seconds."This indicates the time from the pager activation until the first unit's arrival on scene," Kraus said. The total fire loss for the year was $661,600, which was comprised of $639,600 for buildings and contents and $22,000 for vehicles. According to Kraus, it also represented a decrease of $614,900 from the previous year.The department currently has around 98 members, with the minimum membership age being 18. Kraus noted that the department lowered the minimum age a few years ago in an effort to increase membership. It was previously set at 21.